The Light Between Oceans

A Novel

By: M. L. Stedman

Narrated by: Noah Taylor

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

A captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel - the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds.

In 1918, after four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes only four times a year and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Three years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel is tending the grave of her newly lost infant when she hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up on shore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the dead man and the infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim the child as their own and name her Lucy, but a rift begins to grow between them. When Lucy is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world…and one of them is desperate to find her lost baby.

M.L. Stedman’s extraordinarily compelling characters, still trying to make sense of life in the wake of so much death in the war, are imperfect people seeking to find their north star in a world of incomprehensible complexity.

©2012 Grasshill Communications. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful novel about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart stealthily, until you stop hoping the characters will make different choices and find you can only watch, transfixed, as every conceivable choice becomes an impossible one. I couldn’t look away from the page and then I couldn’t see it, through tears. It’s a stunning debut.” (Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It)

Heart-wrenching story

A well-narrated story of relationships between parent and child and how love can be both constructive and destructive. Once again, the horrors of war subtly influence the lives of the survivors for generations.

Lovely story!

There’s a little romance, a little history, a little thrill. A well-balanced story to stay with me for a while. Very sweet, sometimes dramatic and very well done. Great narration by beautiful voices. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Bittersweet

Took a bit for the story to develop and hook me. The climax was excellent and also distressing. The ending was bittersweet. Overall a good listen. I’m not sure I could have read it and stuck it out long enough in the beginning to get hooked.

Authentic characters and story. Evocative storytelling. Beautiful

I liked the descriptions of place very much. The narration was outstanding. Excellent story, gripping.

Good Story

The premise of this story is very creative and I was immediately engaged. These characters find themselves in a heck of a fix. My heart was broken for all of them.

I wanted a different ending, but I don't know what it would have been. Perhaps there was no way to end it in an equitable manner. It is a tough problem that these people had to deal with.

Although I liked the narrator, he was very hard to understand at times, especially when his voice went very soft. I know he was doing that for effect, but if you can't understand what he is saying, the effect is lost anyway.

All in all, I would recommend this book. I enjoyed reading/listening to it very much.

Narration Terrible!

What did you like best about The Light Between Oceans? What did you like least?

I can't finish because I can't hear half of what the narrator says! I have Australian friends and can certainly understand them, but not this guy when I'm driving in the car. What a disappointment. I'm returning asap.

Don't listen to this book.

Would you try another book from M. L. Stedman and/or Noah Taylor?

M.L.Stedman - yes.
Noah Taylor - no.
I love audio books. But I could not listen to Noah Taylor. Poor choice for a reader. He tends to lower his voice to a whispering/mumbling voice at the end of many sentences. He lacks clarity in sound. His accent is too thick at times. I gave up on it and purchased the e-book. Iwanted to listen to a book, not work hard to understand the reader.

How could the performance have been better?

Get someone else to read it. Someone with clear voice. Constant (not lowering his voice at the end of a sentence.

Really Australian...

What did you like about this audiobook?

I lived in Australia for 3 years, and so enjoyed tha narration! Also the "Aussie" slang. Almost felt like I was back in Oz. Loved hearing about Janis Rock.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

It was believable.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Nothing...

Do you have any additional comments?

A great listen.

Life's Choices

It may seem like a simple life to live with so few people, alone on a island as a lighthouse keeper but their lives became so much more complicated, emotionally. I loved this book. The narrator was fantastic. It touched me deeply. I listened to the last three hours on a road trip and arrived at my destination completely drained. The Light Between the Oceans helps remind us that little decisions can have HUGE impacts on our lives and the lives of many others and that there really aren't many "little decisions". The more time that passes after I "closed the cover", the more I love it!

Great story. Narration wasn’t my favorite.

I am glad to see I wasn’t the only one who struggled to enjoy the narration.
I felt like the narrator had a mouth full of spit as he spoke. I’ve never had a narrator grate on me like this one. I feel bad admitting that but I felt him hard to listen to.
The story really was beautifully written though. I’d recommend the book regardless of the narration. Just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean another wouldn’t find the narration bearable.